When it comes to homemade bread, this is (hands down) the BEST homemade white bread recipe I have ever tasted!
There is nothing yummier than fresh white bread straight from the oven, when it is still warm and then butter just melts right into it.
Whenever I tell people that I make homemade bread from scratch they are always amazed and the first question out of their mouths is ALWAYS “Isn’t it hard to make bread?”
Truthfully, the answer is no…it really is quite easy to make when you have a stand mixer to do all the hard work for you! The hardest part is trying to keep myself from eating an entire loaf of warm bread myself!
Over the past few years I have perfected my Simple White Bread Recipe and it always gets raves when I make it, both from my family and when I share it with others (right Christina??).
Can you live on bread alone (I sure can!)? Leave a comment and let me know.
SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM FOR THE PRINTABLE RECIPE.
If you like this recipe, you will love these other easy on It Is a Keeper:
Simple White Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 6-7 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons shortening
- 4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 1/4 cups very warm water - 120° to 130°F
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- In stand mixer, stir 3 1/2 cups of the flour, the sugar, salt, shortening and yeast until well mixed. Slowly add warm water and beat with electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently.
- Increase mixer speed to medium speed for 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently.
- Add remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, to make dough easy to handle. Continue to mix dough using dough hook on mixer until dough becomes springy and doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl.
- (At this point the dough should not stick to your fingers when you touch it, it would have the same feel as playdoh)
- Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and a kitchen hand towel and let rise in warm place 40 to 60 minutes or until dough has doubled in size. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
- Gently push fist into dough to deflate. Divide dough in half and stretch a few times to shape into a ball with the smooth side up.
- Place each half in a lightly greased bread pan and brush with olive oil on top. Cover with plastic wrap and kitchen towel and let rise in warm place 35 to 50 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.
- Once dough has risen preheat oven to 425°F. When oven is hot, place both loaves in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes until loaves are golden brown.
- Remove from oven, brush tops with melted butter, and allow to cool slightly.
- Slice while warm and enjoy!
- Want to scale a recipe up or down? Simply type in a new serving amount and the recipe will automatically adjust!
- When a recipe call for House Seasoning Blend, you can use this recipe or substitute salt and pepper to taste.
- I always use unsalted butter in my recipes.
- I always use a meat thermometor to test for doneness when cooking meat. This one is my favorite.
- When a recipe is made in the oven, it should be pre-heated to the temperature in the recipe, unless otherwise noted.
- The nutritional information provided in this recipe is an estimate. Learn more on how I calculate nutritional information for my recipes.
marah says
March 21, 2015 at 6:23 amI make bread with a very similar recipe. How do you keep your bread fresh? Mine started drying out after a couple of days. I had put it in a plastic bread bag thinking this would help, but it seemed to make it worse. Any ideas?
Heather says
March 17, 2015 at 12:26 pmThis looks delicious!! I love homemade bread. I have only tried the artisan breads but I am anxious to try this!